Top 5 dog behaviour training tips

The Resource for Everything About Dogs

Top 5 dog behaviour training tips

by Stephen James

Hello fellow dog trainers and people alike. Now, a lot of people have contacted me recently to ask me to cut down my detailed articles on dog training and to just give the main key points that they need to get going with dog behaviour training in a relatively quick period of time. It should still be noted that successful dog behaviour training requires some time and patience at the best of times, but all the same you should find the following definitve list useful, it contains the 5 key elements to any successful dog training that you ideally need for maximum success. Please take some time to read this article and you should find it makes a huge difference to your dog behaviour training success. Here we go:

1. Get your dog's attention
Before you can start training your dog you first need to get its attention, this may sound like teaching grandma to suck eggs to you but you would be surprised how many people overlook this and just carry on trying to train a dog who isn't really even paying attention to them in the first place! There are some easy ways to get your dogs attention such as simply talking to him and offering him a small treat in reward for his attention - dogs soon get to know and catch on quickly to this and you will notice this working very quickly.

2. Give praise
Time and time again it is the simplest and most obvious things that people neglect to do when training their dog, and surprisingly one of the most common (and most essential of the lot) is to give your dog praise when he does something right,as this helps to complete his association between your voice pattern and whether he has done good or bad. Whenever your dog obeys you and does something correct, make sure you give him plenty of praise and you will soon notice a change in his behaviour, even over just a short period of time, it's that effective!

3. Reprimanding
When it comes to successful and effective dog behaviour training, giving a stern reprimand is just as important as offering plenty of praise as both are required to complete your dog's association between your tone of voice and his behaviour. People come to me all the time with the issue that they just feel too horrible when they tell their dog off and they shy away from it. This is not good as if a dog is not told when he has done something wrong, then he will continue to do it knowing no different. You need to reprimand when needed to make all this work.Now, just to clear something up that is not always understood so well, to reprimand does not mean hitting your dog! This is totally wrong and will not help your dog behaviour training at all. Instead., any time your dog is engaging in bad behavior, use the opportunity to teach him the 'stop!' or 'no!' command. Using the 'stay!' command can also be effective in these situations and is a good example of a reprimand with a positive purpose.

4. Use the right dog behavoiur training tools
There is no good trying to train your dog if you don't have the necessary tools and supplies to do the job, you wouldn't really try to train a dog to obey your 'sit' commands without taking him out on a lead for a while would you? No, of course you wouldn't and it's another key factor in any successful dog behaviour training program. If you have a well behaved dog, then a 6 ft lead and a regular collar will easily suffice and will do the job nicely. However if you have a dog that is slightly more uncontrollable and unpredictable, then you should use a special training collar. You also need to make sure the collar is the right size (an uncomfortable dog is much less likely to play ball!) which you can do by measuring the dogs' neck and adding about 2 inches, this should give a pretty good estimate of which collar you need to buy for your dog.

5. Do a little dog behaviour training every day
Don't rush dog training. Trying to fill a dog's head with too much information will more than likely end up working against you just in the same way a child would trying to learn the entirety of a subject in just one lesson, it doesn't work. Teach your dog one command at a time and don't move on until he gets it, keep at it and persistence will pay off.

Well there we go, I have listed the 5 most important and most essential tips you will probably ever learn when it comes to successful dog behaviour training. So please take them on board and make sure they are a firm part of your dog behaviour training program today and you will see dramatic improvement in your dog's behaviour and how quickly your dog's behaviour training improves.

Stephen James is an experienced dog trainer who has set up a dog behaviour training website to offer free tips, techniques and methods to quickly and easily train your dog.